There are a wide variety of devices available for cutting media such as, e.g., paper, plastic sheets, aluminum foil, felt, and photos. Perhaps the most commonly used device for cutting such media is a scissors. While scissors are commonplace, they do have some drawbacks. For example, scissors have exposed cutting edges, which can present safety hazards. In some instances, as with dull scissors, the media can gather and the resulting edge created by the scissors cut may be jagged and unsightly. Such jagged edges are undesirable in some applications, such as, e.g., in gift-wrapping packages.
There are a wide variety of designs for envelope openers available commercially. These devices are especially useful for cutting along a fold such as an envelope opener. However, they are not as well suited to cut media that does not contain a fold. Other types of cutters can leave marks on the media, marks such as scratches and folds near the cut edge. These marks are usually undesirable to the consumer.
There are a variety of devices available today for curling ribbon. A ribbon is typically a non-woven material, such as, e.g., polypropylene, that curls when a tension or a shear force is applied to its surface. Consumers have used a blade of a scissor to curl ribbon. Typically, using a finger (usually the thumb) the consumer pushes the ribbon against the scissor blade and pulls the ribbon through thereby applying tension to the ribbon and curling it.
There are devices that combine ribbon curling and ribbon shredding, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,232,132 (Broussard et al.) and U.S. Pat. No. 3,883,953 (Saullo et al.), where the curling and shredding processes are combined in one step. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,054,699 (DeJaynes), the ribbon curling process is separate from the ribbon shredding process. Besides scissors, there are also devices that combine cutting and curling ribbon, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,205,007 (Goldstein) and Publication WO 95/35190.